The Crew

Design and Graphics

Ryan Crane

Ryan Crane has been skating parks of all styles and materials for over 20 years, giving him a unique perspective on what works and what doesn’t inside a skatepark. Ryan brings that experience, along with his design talents, to every job at Hunger Skateparks. With state of the art technological computer training and the best equipment available, Ryan delivers the finest designs and schematic drawings in the industry.
Ryan is also an advocate for skateparks in Oklahoma, and has successfully raised the money needed for a new park in his hometown of Bartlesville, OK which is planned to be built in 2019.

Hadley Gephart

Hadley Gephart is our graphics pro who ensures that our work is showcased by visuals that represent our vision and goals. Hadley specializes in illustration, animations, and graphic art. See more of her work on her website .

Sol Briggs

2005 Homewoods Build. Sol Briggs

2014 Winamac, Indiana Skatepark. Sol Briggs

Long time skater, artist, and designer Sol wears many hats on the Hunger team. Sol uses his background in Computer Science to create 3D renderings and animations that bring to life the vision of the design team. He is involved with many projects from the initial stages of conceptual design, to the on-site layout, and finishing touches of the park. For over a decade, Sol and Bart have been collaborating on skate projects. Sol has given countless hours to volunteer based projects over the years, including a project in Managua, Nicaragua not far from his second home in Posoltega. Sol is an advocate for Narcolepsy with Cataplexy awareness, as he lives with it, and has self-published several books that describe his life as a skateboarder with cataplexy.

Skatepark Builders

Ben Bradford

2019. Columbus, Indiana. Ben Bradford

2017 New Castle, Indiana. Ben Bradford

Ben grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina and currently lives in Gainesville Florida. He got his first board in 1998 in the 2nd grade, after moving to a new neighborhood where all the kids were skating. His first projects with Hunger were in 2017 for New Castle, IN and the Newport, KY DIY bowl. He left Hunger for awhile but returned just in time to be a big part of the snakerun in the Switchyard Skatepark in Bloomington, IN in early 2019.

Ben is a natural with concrete, and loves building parks with “nice flow, big curves and big ways to get speed and lines.” His favorite part of the whole experience is “not riding the park myself, but watching how other people interpret it and grow into it.” Read an extended interview with Ben here.

Ryan Brandt

Brandt is from Lawrenceburg, IN and currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. He started skating when he was 11, on the street outside of his house on some plywood strategically placed in the grass.

He says “I owe everything to the bridge.” That is where Hunger met Brandt, under the Newport, Kentucky Bridge when we built the bowl addition in 2017. The Newport Bridge DIY was his first experience in skatepark building and gave him a basic understanding of the process. He joined the crew for the Switchyard Skatepark build in Bloomington, IN in 2019. Brandt says his favorite day of park building so far was when the shotcrete pump broke when pouring the snakehead in Bloomington and everyone had to hand- stack one of the tallest walls in the park. He liked that because “something bad happened and we worked together to solve it and pulled it off.” About working with Hunger he said “It’s a killer scenario. I would hang with these guys even if I wasn’t working with them. I love everyone.”

Landy Collada

2019 Switchyard Skatepark, Bloomington, IN. Landy Collada

2018 Jenks, Oklahoma. All the crew sported mustaches for a bit too long that year. Landy Collada.

The Miami, Florida native says he came late to skateboarding, starting 12 years ago, when he was 16. After receiving his Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Florida, he worked in construction management. He then made the shift to building skateparks, where his academic background and personal passions could be united. Landy’s first project with Hunger was the Tahlequah street park rehab, and has been at every job thereafter. His most notable contribution was his work in the shooting, placement and finishing of the shotcrete in the Switchyard Skatepark in Bloomington, Indiana. Landy says his favorite aspects of park building are “in the guts of the build- the dirt work, steel fabrication, carpentry and concrete finishing.”

Shane Gilmore

Shane is from Jackson, Mississippi, and comes from a strong southern DIY group of park builders. He has been instrumental in projects such as the Jenks (OK), Breslin Park (KY), Tahlequah Renovation and Bowl (OK), and New Castle (IN) skateparks. Shane shines when the concrete arrives, shooting and finishing.

Casey Giver

2018 Casey Giver. Switchyard Skatepark, Bloomington, IN

2019 Casey Giver. Columbus, IN Skatepark

Casey was born in Peru, IN and started skating in 1986, when he was just 6 years old. His skatepark-building origin story is similar to so many park builders. He had a family member, his Grandpa, who encouraged him to use his tools to build wood skate features. Skaters from the era remember Casey’s driveway and dead-end road, full of wood skate features including a launch ramp, mini ramp, pads, banks – basically the first Peru Skatepark. Casey is a certified welder and came to skatepark building with many skills already honed in from years of flipping houses and working in a fabricating shop. He has been working with Hunger since he volunteered at the Indy Skatepark Rehab in 2016. Casey said his favorite part of working for Hunger is that “Bart is never satisfied and pushes the team to develop their skills, to build a park better than the last, and constantly push the limits of this specialized trade. It’s hard, but I like that part.” He likes challenging projects and his favorite features to build are the non-traditional and abstract pieces that push the boundaries with complicated angles and steel work.

Ryan Smith

2017. Ryan Smith. New Castle, IN Hole

2017. New Castle, IN Skatepark

2019. Ryan Smith. Switchyard Skatepark. Bloomington, IN

Ryan Smith is a leader in Indiana skateboarding, a main figurehead in Bloomington skatepark advocacy, and a skatepark craftsman with a design background. His background as a skate shop owner and skateboarder hub gives us insight into lasting designs that integrate all styles of skating. Ryan was on the design team of the Bloomington Switchyard Skatepark project, a complicated design off the B-line and in a flood plain.

Simon Smith

Simon, 2019

Simon Skating the Skørping, Denmark Skatepark

Simon, son of Bart and Christy, is the next generation of skatepark builders. He has grown up building skateparks, starting at age 5 with the Homewoods bowl. Now at 19 years old, he has directly assisted his Dad in every aspect of construction. While he is currently working on an accelerated business degree, Simon works summers and whenever there are breaks at school. He says his favorite build was the New Castle park build “because the Mayor and the community were so happy and involved in the build.” Simon has a unique perspective on park building because he started so young. Check out an extended interview with Simon here.

Chris Swartzentruber

Chris taking a quick run on the punk track before painting the coping- Jenks, Oklahoma, 2018.

Chris was born in Houma, Louisiana and moved to Columbus, Indiana when he was 5. In 7th grade he discovered skateboarding, and after 3 years of skating curbs and homemade PVC boxes, the Columbus outdoor wood park was built. In 2019, the wood park was removed and Chris worked with us to build a new concrete park in its place. Chris was running a large restaurant kitchen when we begged him to join the crew in 2018, after working with him on the Upland Brewery Employee Skate Spot and some backyards around Indiana. His first build was in Jenks, Oklahoma and he says the Jenks doorway entrance was his favorite feature to build. His biggest responsibilities are running the shotcrete pump, and managing day-to-day timelines on all aspects of the build. On skatepark building, Chris said “ I like being a part of something that helps kids and building in small towns like I grew up in where there might not be much to do. It may inspire them to build and dream big. My favorite part of park building is when the forms come off, and we can skate what we built.”

Alex Vasquez

Alex Vazquez. Photo by Kyle Kisling

Alex Vazquez. Photo by Kyle Kisling

Alex is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and has been involved in park builds around Oklahoma in the Native Skateparks build crew. He officially joined Hunger Skateparks for the Jenks, OK park build. Alex is our representative BMX crew member. He is a true street biker, scoping out spots almost every day after work, especially large drops: like, super scary close your eyes drops. His favorite part of park building is that “we build smiles wherever we go. I can’t tell you how many people say ‘Hey, you’re doing great! This is so cool.’ What other job can claim that?” His favorite Hunger park is in Tahlequah, OK and he says it is “the most fun place to ride in the whole world. I like everything about the bowl set up, and especially the life guard chairs.”

Hunger Skateparks owes a huge thanks to the many dedicated and skilled skateboarders, park builders, and designers on our crew (past, present & future) that help make our efforts successful. Because we have participated in many community builds, we also want to express our gratitude for the community members and public officials who went beyond the call of duty to help bring a skatepark to their town, and continue to advocate for skateparks and skateboarding.